State of the Industry survey launched for 2019

4 March 2019

The food and beverage industry is a powerhouse supporting the South Australian economy and employing some 152,000 South Australians.

To keep building on this success requires an in-depth understanding of what is happening in the industry right now. According to Food South Australia CEO Catherine Sayer, this understanding must come from real evidence, provided by the industry itself.

“As the peak body for the industry in this state, we are actively engaged at all levels of government and with policy-makers and program developers to ensure the investment and effort going into the industry is speaking to current priorities, needs and challenges,” Ms Sayer said.

“This is why we undertake our State of the Industry survey each alternate year,” she said.

“The survey reaches out to food and beverage manufacturers and producers who are adding value at the farm gate to assess how key trends are changing across the sector – and to find out about the challenges that keep them awake at night.”

“There are few research projects focused specifically on our industry. This benchmarking survey has been going since 2014 and helps us and the State Government to better understand industry’s key priorities and challenges.

Food South Australia is the only association of its type in Australia. It is an independent organisation led by a Board of experienced industry professionals and also partners with the State Government to deliver programs to support industry-wide growth. As part of that partnership, the State Government provides support funding for the biennial industry survey.

Each time the survey includes recurring benchmarking questions on product and market development, and business operations. Each time the survey is run, an additional set of questions is included to gather information on emerging trends and priorities for the industry.

“Each survey tries to provide a benchmark for businesses to use to evaluate their operations and questions targeting areas where we need to gather evidence to support anecdotal reports of issues and obstacles. We are able to report on the markets, systems and challenges that food and beverage businesses are thinking about right now, to ensure ongoing policy and programs answer real needs,” Ms Sayer said.

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